Coca-Cola bottler, SLMG Beverages to invest a billion dollars over five years

Ladhani Group is looking at scaling up its beverage and hospitality businesses rapidly. The group’s company, SLMG Beverages, which is the largest independent bottler of Coca-Cola in India will invest about a billion dollars (about ₹8,000 crore) to set up new bottling plants and expand existing facilities.

SLMG Beverages currently operates in markets including Uttarakhand, parts of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh besides the newly acquired Bihar territory.

Paritosh Ladhani, Joint Managing Director, SLMG Beverages told businessline,”Currently, we are among the top 15 bottlers globally for Coca-Cola and its largest independent bottler in India. We aim to be among the top ten bottlers of Coca-Cola globally in the coming years. We have rapid expansion plans and will be investing about a billion dollars in the beverage business in the next five years.”

New plant

He explained that the company is already in the process of setting up a new plant in the Buxar region of Bihar with an investment of ₹1,200 crore. “We will also set up an additional plant in Bihar with an investment of ₹1,500 crore,” he added. The company will also invest in new facilities in other territories including Uttar Pradesh.

Currently, SLMG Beverages operates 8 bottling plants that manufacture Coca-Cola’s beverage portfolio in the country. “Over the next five years, we are expecting to be operating 13-14 plants. The greenfield plants won’t be small but large scale plants. At the same time, we will also invest in expanding our existing plants,” Ladhani added.

The Group is open to new franchising opportunities domestically as well as international territories if and when the opportunities arise, he added. “SLMG Beverages will close FY25 with a gross turnover of ₹8,000 crore and next year we expect to cross the ₹10,000 crore mark,”he added.

Ladhani said that the company will be funding this investment through internal accruals and debt and is not looking at raising external funds.

Meanwhile, talking about the hospitality business, Ladhani said that the group plans to invest around₹3,000 crore in its hospitality business in the next 3-4 years. “We currently operate with an overall inventory of 500 rooms and plan to expand it to 1,500 rooms over the next three years,” he added. Earlier this month, the Ladhani Group announced setting up two new resorts in Rishikesh which will be managed by EIH Limited, The Oberoi Group’s flagship company.